LONDON - OCTOBER 11: Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron gestures during a press conference in Downing Street on October 11, 2010 in London, England. During the press conference the prime minister stated that British aid worker, Linda Norgrove may have been accidentally killed by a grenade detonated by a member of the U.S. rescue team rather than her Taliban captors. David Cameron said the rescue was being reviewed by the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus. less

LONDON - OCTOBER 11: Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron gestures during a press conference in Downing Street on October 11, 2010 in London, England. During the press conference the prime minister stated ... more

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In this undated black and white photo made available Saturday Oct. 9, 2010, from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) showing kidnapped British aid worker Linda Norgrove, who was being held by Afghan captors, who has been killed during a rescue attempt by NATO forces. The aid worker, identified as Linda Norgrove, was killed Friday Oct. 8, 2010, night by her captors during an operation to free her, Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement from London. less

In this undated black and white photo made available Saturday Oct. 9, 2010, from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) showing kidnapped British aid worker Linda Norgrove, who was being held by ... more

Photo: Fco, AP

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U.S. forces may have killed British captive

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British Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday that Linda Norgrove, a 36-year-old British aid worker who was taken captive in Afghanistan last month, may have been accidentally killed during a rescue attempt by U.S. special operations forces.

Norgrove's death was blamed on one of her captors, who officials said had apparently detonated a bomb as U.S. and Afghan troops were closing in. But Cameron said new details indicated she may have been killed instead by a grenade used by the Americans during the rescue mission.

Cameron said he received a call informing him of fresh information in the case early Monday from Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

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"We must get to the bottom of what happened, first of all so the family gets this information and knows exactly how their wonderful daughter died," Cameron said at a news conference at No. 10 Downing Street. He said he had already spoken with Norgrove's parents to keep them apprised.

Cameron strongly defended the mission itself, saying it had been agreed upon after intense consideration and exchanges between British and American officials. He said a green light was given because Norgrove was in serious danger, being held by Taliban fighters in a remote mountain valley of Konar province in eastern Afghanistan.

"The decision to launch this rescue operation was not an easy one," Cameron said. "But I am clear that Linda's life was in grave danger from the moment she was taken."

Immediately after her death, NATO officials said one of her captors killed her by detonating an explosive as the special operations forces rescue team was approaching for its pre-dawn raid. But after receiving new information from the Special Operations Command that conducted the rescue attempt, Petraeus ordered an investigation into the circumstances of her death.

"Subsequent review of surveillance footage and discussions with members of the rescue team do not conclusively determine the cause of her death," a NATO statement said.

Norgrove, who worked for DAI, a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development based in Bethesda, Md., had spent several years in Afghanistan, spoke fluent Dari and was learning Pashto, the two most commonly spoken languages in the country. Based in the eastern city of Jalalabad, she was traveling to Konar with three Afghan colleagues as part of their work on an irrigation project. Her colleagues escaped unharmed, officials said.